It cannot have been lost on the Everton players as they trudged off the pitch, on the fans as they despondently filed out of the ground or on the manager as he headed down the tunnel.

After another game where Everton should have done enough to win, the sounds of 'Nothing Else Matters' on the loudspeakers after the full-time whistle was as fitting as it was cruel.

Everton were punished by a clinical Leicester City side who gleefully grabbed their three, gift-wrapped presents with both hands and raced to the top of the tree in time for Christmas.

Had they deserved to win?

On the balance of play, they hadn't, but the crushing fact of the matter this evening is that it was Everton who left this game with nothing to show for their efforts.

As the song says, nothing else matters.

After dropping points against Bournemouth, Palace and Norwich City the prospect of taking on the live-wire league leaders will have been daunting for some but there was little fright in the Blues who dominated the game.

But for all their possession, for all the shots they fired and for all the corners they won, Everton were made to pay the penalty for not capitalising on what they had.

Leicester struck from two penalties and then for a third time when referee Jon Moss let the Blues down, failing to spot a handball, and allowing the visitors to score a third time.

Substitute Kevin Mirallas reduced the deficit with two minutes to go and Ross Barkley saw a goal-bound effort saved by Kasper Schemeichel in time-added on, but it wasn't enough.

Everton left to fester

Everton fell to a fourth defeat of the season and were left to fester over a game where they managed to score two goals against the leaders, but still had nothing to show for it.

The worry had been that Roberto Martinez's side would struggle to maintain the hellacious pace they had set in a first-half where they played with energy, pace, power and very often in a direct manner.

Everton weren't at their best, not at the heights they reached in the opening 45 against Norwich City last weekend for sure, but they had played well enough to contain and control Leicester for most of the game.

But it was in a lull, mid-way through the second-half, when the visitors did the damage and the pendulum swung in their favour.

The Blues, as they so often do, rallied thereafter but there was no glorious comeback, just anger, frustration, disappointment – and confusion.

How is a team, who has so much about them, so much promise and talent, not able to win games they dominate?

What has to change for this Everton side to fulfil their potential?

How do Martinez's men turn performances into points or, perhaps more to point, do what Leicester managed and simply find a way to win?

Everton are currently being taught some harsh lessons but ones they need to take heed of, and quickly.

Not ruthless enough

Undoubtedly, the Blues weren't ruthless enough at Goodison.

They had 67% possession, 13 shots and 10 corners but still only managed as many shots on goal as Leicester.

Gerard Deulofeu was quiet, he looked fatigued as well, and when Arouna Kone endures one of his ineffective games, as he did here, Everton's attack can end up looking blunt.

They're first goal was excellently worked across the Leicester box and involved Tom Cleverley and Ross Barkley before Romelu Lukaku smashed home to score for a seventh successive league game.

Mirallas' strike late on also finished off some tidy approach play and quick thinking in the area, but they were exceptions to the rule on a day when the Blues often huffed and puffed.

Martinez agreed, yet his side scored twice and still lost the game.

It inevitably, therefore, brings us to one place: the defence.

Ramiro Funes Mori, who otherwise enjoyed a decent game, was out-manoeuvred by Shinji Okazaki and in his panic to get back goal-side, hauled down the Japanese forward.

'Unnecessary' defending

Martinez's only complaints were with the defending, he called it “unnecessary”.

He could have few grumbles with the award of Leicester's second penalty either, at just past the hour mark and at a point in the game when Everton had continued to be on top.

Riyad Mahrez, otherwise contained by the Blues, was given too much room on the edge of the area, slipped a weighted pass into Jamie Vardy's path and watched on as Tim Howard rushed from his line but brought the striker down.

Everton were too open, they lost concentration and Howard was always rushing head first into a race he would never, ever win with Vardy.

Mahrez sent the American the wrong way, after squeezing the first spot-kick past him, and then four minutes later Leicester sealed their win.

Everton backed themselves into a corner after poor decision making from a throw-in and though Seamus Coleman's clearance was clearly handled by Marc Albrighton, referee Moss waved play on, Vardy squared to Okazaki and he did the rest.

The Blues fired back through Mirallas and pushed for an equaliser but their soft centre let them down again.

Claudio Ranieri and the Leicester players were fulsome in their praise for Everton afterwards, speaking about what a good side they are, how well they move the ball and the talent they have at their disposal.

They aren't the first or last to compliment this side but Leicester knew that for all the problems Everton would cause them, the Blues would also offer up chances.

And so it proved.

The festive season is for giving but Everton must now turn Scrooge if they are to start winning games because, at the end of it all, nothing else matters.